Tag Archives: London Eye

During our stay in London last week, we took a break from photographing flowers to ride on the iconic London Eye, Europe’s tallest observation wheel. We joined the 3.5 million annual visitors eager to experience the city’s most popular paid attraction.

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The Eye is quite an engineering feat. Cantilevered over the Thames and supported by tensioned steel cables, it looks like a giant bicycle wheel. Each of its 32 pods hold approximately 25 people, which means that at any one time, the wheel is carrying some 800 people. That’s approximately 10,000 people a day.

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Apart from the fact that it began to rain just as we boarded our assigned 10 ton egg-shaped glass capsule, the ride on this huge loop in the sky was quite fun. Quiet fun, that is: no speed ride here, no heart-into-your-throat breathless screams. The Eye rotates at the leisurely pace of 10 inches per minute. Looking at it from the ground, it barely seems to move at all.

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Nonetheless, once settled in our glass pod, with a foggy London skyline at our feet and looking into the distance some 40 kilometers, the 30-minute revolution went by in a flash.

Dangling in our pod like a ripe berry, every moment became magnified. As vista upon vista unfolded, the slow inexorable pace gave rise to a surreal altered state. The incremental yet relentless pace of the Eye merged with an image of the wheel of time to remind us that, as always, time cannot be paused. The challenge remains to enjoy memorable experiences in the all-too-brief moment.

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The rain intensified as we reached the top of the wheel, adding a thrilling touch of drama to this peak moment. A great breath of freedom filled our lungs as we rolled over the crest. Even though the fog and the water droplets on the pod’s surface marred what we had hoped would be perfect aerial photographs, the moment at the top, which lasted but a few seconds (isn’t that the way of life?), gave us a new sense of connection to the city below.

Having seen the city from such height, we landed no longer feeling like strangers in a strange land: the river, the Parliament Buildings, Westminster Abbey—all had become part of a Harry Potter-like Gothic tale which we were eager to explore. With this newfound sense of curiosity and intimacy, London was becoming our friend.

Not surprisingly, the rain stopped and the sun came out just as we exited the pod, a perfect welcoming return to the world of reality.